Methods for dynamic mobile application behavior modification subject to a behavior policy
View Patent ↗The present invention provides a mechanism to change how mobile device applications, particularly Android applications, work; essentially selectively modifying their behavior. Where an application provides a useful operation but also has functionality that can be detrimental to the desired action of a device, use of the application becomes problematic. The present invention provides a method of modifying the use of the application without invasive reprogramming of the code. The present invention provides a means to make modifications to the functionality without modifying the application. As a result, performance of the desired outcome is not affected and because there is no modification of the actual software, legal boundaries are maintained.
1. A computer-implemented method for modifying execution of a software application on a mobile computing device programmed to perform the method comprises the steps of:
receiving in the mobile computing device, the software application, wherein the software application comprises a plurality of logical software instructions;
receiving in the mobile computing device, a software library comprising plurality of modified logical software instructions;
initiating in the mobile computing device, execution of the software application including modifying reference from the plurality of logical software instructions to refer to the plurality of modified logical software instructions; including the steps of:
determining in the mobile computing device, a pointer to a NativeFunc field in a Method Object in a virtual machine;
modifying in the mobile computing device, the pointer to point to the software library;
determining in the mobile computing device, a pointer to an AccessFlags field in a Method Object in a virtual machine; and
modifying in the mobile computing device, the pointer to include the ACC_NATIVE logical value;
inhibiting in the mobile computing device, execution of the plurality of logical software instructions; and
initiating in the mobile computing device, execution of the plurality of modified logical software instructions.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
determining in the mobile computing device, a pointer to an Insns field in a Method Object in a virtual machine;
constructing in the mobile computing device, a second Method Object;
copying in the mobile computing device, the pointer of the Insns field of the Method Object to the second Method Object; and
modifying in the mobile computing device, the pointer to the Insns field.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the software library instructions perform operations specified by a behavior policy.
4. A mobile computing device for modifying execution of a software application comprising:
a memory configured to store a software application, wherein the software application comprises a plurality of logical software instructions, and wherein the memory is configured to store a software library comprising a plurality of modified logical software instructions;
a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is programmed to initiating execution of the software application and act to modify references from the plurality of logical software instructions to refer to the plurality of modified logical software instructions including determining in the mobile computing device, a pointer to a NativeFunc field in a Method Object in a virtual machine; modifying in the mobile computing device, the pointer to point to the software library; determining in the mobile computing device, a pointer to an AccessFlags field in a Method Object in a virtual machine; and modifying in the mobile computing device, the pointer to include the ACC_NATIVE logical value; wherein the processor is programmed to inhibiting execution of the plurality of logical software instructions when executing the software application, and wherein the processor is programmed to initiating execution of the plurality of modified logical software instructions when executing the software application.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises modifying in the mobile computing device, a virtual machine to refer to the plurality of modified logical software instructions.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the virtual machine comprises an Android Dalvik Virtual Machine.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the software library comprising a plurality of modified logical software instructions further comprises a native code library.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying in the mobile computing device, reference from the plurality of logical software instructions to the plurality of modified logical software instructions comprises the steps of:
determining in the mobile computing device, a pointer to an Insns field in a Method Object in a virtual machine; and
modifying in the mobile computing device, the pointer to point to the software library.